The Town of Newmarket is making it easier for residents to cut down dead trees on their property after implementing a permitting process last year.
The town plans to simplify the process for residents to cut down dead or dying trees on their properties. The town is also making it easier to cut trees on an emergency basis due to storms. Town council's committee of the whole approved the changes at its May 29 meeting.
Councillor Victor Woodhouse said the basic premise of the bylaw, to protect the municipality’s trees, is important. But he said the process became an issue in removing trees that obviously warrant cutting.
“If a tree is on private property and it’s pretty clear to anyone, whether an arborist or a citizen, a tree is dead, it shouldn’t be an onerous process,” Woodhouse said.
The town passed the bylaw February 2022 to curb developers and residents from unduly cutting down trees. The municipality put a permitting process in place, requiring an arborist report for cutting trees down and fees for cutting healthy trees.
Commissioner of community services Jeff Payne said they considered resident feedback over the past year and found evidence that the arborist report for trees dead or dying was unnecessary. Those arborist reports will still be needed for requests on trees that are healthy or less obvious cases of a tree dying or creating a hazard.
Residents expressed concern about the bylaw, Councillor Trevor Morrison said.
“It’s been good to see such a positive kind of change toward helping the residents," Morrison said. "Thank you to the residents for their patience as well.”
The town received 195 tree-cutting applications from February to December last year, with 110 of those being for dead, dying or hazardous trees. The town collected $4,300 in fees from when the fees first came into force, from July to December.
The staff report also said the town will make the application form easier to complete and create a comprehensive guide on the importance of tree protection.
Woodhouse said navigating the creation of the bylaw had its challenges. It did receive pushback from residents when council passed it.
“The challenge, our job as council is to strike that balance between having a community that values trees and protects them … or providing an onus on residents that we don’t need to,” Woodhouse said. “I think that (update) satisfies that, where they’ll be able to get a dead tree dealt with quite quickly and without a lot of expense.”
